


Story of His Life

by zinjadu



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-27
Updated: 2012-06-27
Packaged: 2017-11-08 16:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/445089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinjadu/pseuds/zinjadu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre 2x17, the Gaang finds out Zuko is in Ba Sing Se, hilarity ensues.  Written a while ago, rehosting here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Story of His Life

The sun was shining, the birds were singing...

And Sokka’s soul was steeped in boredom.

Sure, there might be millions of things for an enterprising young warrior of fifteen to do in Ba Sing Se, but as far as Sokka was concerned none of them were interesting. And the Dai Li wouldn’t let him near the training grounds. He knew the price of breaking the laws in this crazy city.

So he wandered, feet taking him through the middle class district down to the lower class area. The air felt different down here, dirtier, but that didn’t bother him. It felt more honest.

Happy and temporarily distracted from his problems, Sokka took to the market place, hoping to buy a few supplies for their eventual breaking out of this stinkhole. And that’s when he saw the unbelievable.

Zuko. No. Wait, there was something going on here. Tucking his purchases into his bag, he sidled up to the former prince and his jaw dropped at what he saw.

Zuko with a girl. On what was clearly a date.

Sokka nearly had a fit when he saw them holding hands. Mr. I-Don’t-Need-Anything-From-Anybody-Grrrrrr-Firebend-You-Into-Oblivion was holding hands with a pretty girl.

Ba Sing Se just got interesting.

~ ~ ~

It hadn’t been long before Zuko found out ‘complicated’ to Jin meant ‘lame excuse.’ She kept coming around. At first she came in to redeem that coupon Uncle had given him to give to her. Stupid thing, stupid Uncle. She just sat there, drinking her tea like nothing in the world was awkward about being near him. It wasn’t fair; he felt awkward around her now. Running away after kissing her should have kept her away from them, from him.

He couldn’t figure out of this girl was either very stupid or very determined. He was hoping for stupid. Determined women could get scary. He knew that from experience.

The next day she didn’t have a coupon, so he thought she would not bother to come. Find another tea house and forget ‘Lee’ ever existed.

But of course his life couldn’t be that simple. Jin kept showing up, but instead of talking to him, or even looking at him, she talked to Uncle. Laughed at Uncle’s jokes, complimented Uncle when he brought her tea. She ignored him. It irked him.

“Why do you keep coming in here?” he demanded of her after a week.

“I like the tea here. Best tea in the whole city,” she told him brightly. “Can I have a refill?” She held her cup out to him and shook it at him.

“Fine,” he bit out. Crazy woman, he thought as he stalked back to retrieve the tea pot.

“I do have a question for you though,” she admitted when he came back. Stunned and confused he stood there, dumb, tea pot in hand. “What’s complicated about this?” She waved her hand at the little tea house that could, a simple life, a stable life.

He didn’t respond. He couldn’t.

“Well?” she prompted, and he swore he saw a bit of hope in her eyes. At his further silence, she stood and shook her head. “Complicated is another way of saying ‘I’m afraid.’”

Almost out the door, Zuko’s fist instinct was to let her go, but she had all but called him a coward! Well, damn it, he’d show her. He’d promised himself he’d stop living in fear. He grabbed her arm and stopped her. “I’m not afraid.”

“Ah! Lee!” his Uncle broke in, “I see you fixed your problem with this lovely young lady. Why don’t you take the afternoon off?”

And at that moment, he realized that his Uncle was the craftiest person on the planet.

“Thank you, Uncle,” Zuko said in a tone drier than the desert.

“I promise to have him back at a reasonable hour!” Jin said before dragging Zuko off by the hand.

And he thought the marketplace had sounded so harmless at first.

~ ~ ~

Sokka had become an excellent skulker. Able to move with the crowd with minimal fuss and above all not alerting his quarry to his presence. Dad would be proud his son had turned into such a skilled hunter, just maybe not with how he was currently using those skills.

A horrible grin bloomed on his face. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Turns out the prince was living life as a refugee. Sokka caught snatches of conversation about his Uncle and him working a teahouse, staying low profile and not being any different than anyone else in the poor quarter.

How the mighty had fallen.

Also, turns out Zuko was calling himself ‘Lee’ now. A guy disappears into a city and the best he can do is ‘Lee’? Not even trying.

Now, Sokka just had to shadow them for a bit longer while he figured out what he was going to do about this. He had to be smart, methodical. Detective like.

Ah ha! Yes, a plan formed in his mind, and Sokka could barely keep from maniacal laughter.

~ ~ ~

“I was thinking we could cobble together something to eat before you had to go back, what do you think?” she asked, sunny as ever.

“Well, I suppose I could eat. Lunch wasn’t too long ago,” he muttered, not looking directly at her and very aware that she still had him by the hand.

“Girl with the above average apatite, remember?”

“How could I forget? Where do you put it all?” he asked, looking sharply at her trim form.

“I go out and do things. Not ‘nothing’” she imitated his voice. “And for future reference, don’t stare at girls bodies like that in public. It gives people the wrong idea.”

His eyes snapped away from her and onto a refreshingly harmless alley cat. “Sorry.”

“Ha!” she laughed, “Don’t worry. Oh! I thought these were out of season.” Her attention focused on some fruits, but she did not relinquish her grip on his hand. He didn’t find that as scary as it could have been. It felt... nice.

Jin was right, he had been afraid. Something about the whole situation nagged at him, like he should do something for her. Frowning and lost in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice when Jin asked him a question.

“Hm?”

“I said: you think these will be okay?”

“Oh, yeah, they look good. And.” He paused. “And I’ll pay for them. I mean. I.” To cut off any more embarrassing moments, he handed the money over and took the bagged fruits as quickly as possible.

“Thank you, Lee, that was sweet.” For a suspenseful moment, Zuko thought Jin was about to kiss him, again, in the middle of the market, but she only tightened her grip on his hand and pulled him along. He tried to shove the sense of disappointment away.

~ ~ ~

After following Zuko and his date for the better part of an hour Sokka had come to a conclusion: Zuko knew nothing about girls.

Sure, Sokka might not have the best track record; one girl became the moon, the other’s a warrior in her own right and they don’t know if they’ll ever see each other again, but he knows he can do better than muttering sullenly while a pretty girl is doing her best to be cheerful. Sokka isn’t quite sure what to do with this insight, however. No, he corrects himself, that’s a complete and utter lie. He knows exactly what to do.

Now, to make this all look very natural.

~ ~ ~

“Lee!” a shout rang out over the market place.

Confused and wary, Zuko looked around, taking in details like his uncle had taught him to, and saw something he never wanted to see in Ba Sing Se. One of the Avatar’s companions. The stupid Water Tribe lizard-monkey was jumping up and down like a trained animal, waving his arm, a look of dumb excitement on his face. Zuko shifted into a stance that looked harmless, but would give him good footing in case of an attack.

To Zuko’s horror, Jin waved back.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“Isn’t that person your friend? He knows your name,” Jin reasoned. And escape was too late, now. The boy had gotten through the crowd to them.

“Lee,” the Water Tribe boy said (what was his name, Zuko couldn’t remember) “I didn’t know you were in Ba Sing Se. How’ve you been? Haven’t seen you in a while.” He stood there, stupid grin on his stupid face, like they hadn’t tried to inflict grievous bodily harm on one another in the past.

“I’ve been better,” Zuko all but growled.

“Lee! You really need to work on your people skills,” Jin said, exasperated.

“Oh, that’s all right, ma’am,” the boy said, bowing and kissing Jin’s hand. Zuko almost snorted smoke at that, but the boy caught his eye twitching. “I’m Sokka, and you are..”

“I’m Jin!” she said, grasping Sokka’s hand in a handshake. “I didn’t know Lee had friends.”

“Nice to meet you Jin,” Sokka gushed. “And Lee isn’t exactly the friendly type, if you haven’t noticed.”

“I don’t know, I think he’s real friendly.” Jin grinned from ear to ear, not a trace of guile in her voice.

“Uh...” was all Sokka could manage.

Grabbing the opportunity presented, Zuko chose to execute a strategic retreat. If anything he could get away from this ape-boy and hope the Avatar would not deem a disowned prince worth his time. “Yes, so good to see you, but we should be going. I have to get back soon and...” he trailed off, never having much skill with excuses.

“Don’t worry about it, Lee. I understand,” Sokka recovered. “You have the day with a lovely girl, I wouldn’t want to get in the way.” Sokka grinned, just a shade oily.

Zuko grunted and lead Jin away by the hand. But Jin couldn’t leave well enough alone.

“You should come by the tea house! His uncle makes the best tea in the whole city!” she shouted over her shoulder as they fled.

Even the light afternoon snack with Jin didn’t make up for the fact that one of the Avatar’s cronies knew he was here. His days were surely numbered now. Just when he had been starting to get used to this place, and some of the people in it.

~ ~ ~

Iiiiiinteresting, was the word that came to Sokka’s mind on the way back to the house. Could Zuko and his uncle be some sort of advance infiltrators of the Fire Nation into the city? Could the fight with Azula been a huge hoax? And the look on Zuko’s face when his uncle fell?

This required delicacy, cunning, and a level head.

There was nothing Sokka loved more than a mystery, a puzzle he knew he could figure out, but every detective needed the right tools for the job. And in the Earth Kingdom capital, where earth was every floor, Sokka had the best lie detector ever born.

~ ~ ~

Night had fallen on the great city, people going about their last few errands, couples going to dinner, and the tea house that boasted the best tea on the whole city looked warm and inviting. They stood outside watching Zuko, in an apron no less, waiting on patrons while Iroh brewed pot after pot of tea. Toph had let out a sharp laugh at the image Sokka painted of Zuko in the apron. Still, they were outside.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Toph asked, her tone telling him that she thought this was rather stupid. He was used to that.

“Come on, they don’t want to draw attention to themselves, whether or not they’re telling the truth. And I know you want to see his uncle again.”

“I do.” Toph sighed. “All right, I’ll play lie detector, but you owe me.”

“You got it,” he promised.

They went in.

~ ~ ~

“Nnnng!” Zuko nearly dropped the tea pot when he saw the monkey-boy and the Earthbending girl sit down at a table, like nothing was out of the ordinary. “Uncle,” he whispered furtively, “some of the Avatar’s people are here.”

“Oh! That girl is a kind one, she won’t offer trouble,” Iroh told him.

“How do you know that?”

“She likes me.” Iroh grinned. Zuko felt an urge to smack his face with his palm at his uncle’s faith in his charisma. “Now, go bring them tea.”

Grumbling, Zuko did as he was bid, but that didn’t mean he had to be nice about it. “Here.” He slammed the cups down.

“Thanks, Lee,” the boy said, with that stupid smug grin on his face. “So what are you and your uncle doing here? In Ba Sing Se. Earth Kingdom capital.”

“We’re refugees. Like everyone else.”

“You don’t say—” The floor shifted slightly and a telltale crack came from underneath the table. “Ow! Toph, what the—”

“Thank you for the tea, Lee,” Toph said in her best polite voice. “And thank your uncle for me, too. I’m glad he made it to the city.”

“I. Will tell him you said that.” Zuko practically marched away from their table, back and shoulders stiff and formal. But being a server in a small tea house meant he overheard a lot.

“Why did you do that, Toph? I hadn’t even really started to ask the right questions, yet,” Sokka complained.

“Because he’s telling the truth, Sokka. I could feel it. They came here because its safe, because he’s got a crazy sister chasing him down. Or did you forget what happened when she attacked all of us?” Toph said at little more than a whisper, but Zuko was working hard to listen in. Though that she said so much while he was close by was odd, if what his uncle told him about how the girl saw was true. What game were they playing?

“I haven’t,” Sokka admitted. “It’s just. I don’t know. We’ll talk about this at home.”

“Are we going to tell Aang and Katara?” That brought Zuko up short. The Avatar hadn’t been told, that altered the possibilities of what was going on.

They paid and left, but not before Toph thanked Iroh for the wonderful tea. Zuko thought the girl at least seemed happy to see his uncle alive again. These people should be turning him and his uncle over to the city watch, not having a polite cup of tea and thanking them for it.

Zuko didn’t know what to make of any of this.

~ ~ ~

They showed up again three days later, but those intervening days had been filled with gut gnawing worry. He expected the watch to show up at any time, dragging him and his uncle through the streets to be spat upon by the people who had become their neighbors. Dragged off just like that crazy Jet kid.

“You’re worried about something, Lee,” Jin had told him. “What’s going on?”

But he couldn’t answer her. There was too much that he couldn’t tell.

His uncle had told him that he was worrying needlessly, that the Avatar was a fair and good boy, that he wouldn’t turn them in for trying to start a new life.

“But what about the training room we have set up in the basement, Uncle? What will he do when he sees that?”

Iroh shook his head and continued to prepare tea.

Then Zuko got the shock of his life one evening after Jin had dragged him out again. The shop had closed and he returned to the very, very small home he and his uncle now shared. The Avatar and his little friends sat in the middle of the sitting room like there was nothing bizarre at all about it.

Zuko froze.

“Ah, welcome home Prince Zuko,” his uncle said benignly. “I trust you had a good evening out.”

“What are they doing here, Uncle?” Zuko pointed an accusing finger at the boy who had caused him so much trouble.

“We’re here just to talk,” the Avatar said.

“They have already had a nice cup of jasmine tea, and we spoke of many things. Did you know Aang rode the Elephant Koi?” Iroh laughed. No one else did. Iroh sighed. “That would be my cue to leave for a little while. Have care Prince Zuko, they mean us no harm.” And his uncle left the house, to wander the night.

Zuko sat down stiffly, his back straight and his hands gripping his knees. “Say what you came here to and leave.”

“Hey, if you,” Sokka started.

“Sokka, not this time,” Aang told him. Zuko go the distinct impression that although the Avatar was only twelve, he commanded this little crew. “We’re here to warn you, Zuko. I know you and your uncle know you have to be careful here, but you don’t know how careful. The Dai Li suppress any and all information about the war, they want everyone to pretend like it doesn’t exist. They wouldn’t just take you both away, if they found out who you were, they’d make it like neither of you ever set foot in this city at all.”

“And how would they do that? We’ve interacted with too many people to be forgotten overnight.”

“I don’t know, but they can make people disappear, Zuko. We know that for sure. Even stick someone in your place to make it seem like you’re still here, but it won’t be you.”

“They couldn’t fool Jin...” he tried.

“They’d get rid of her too!” Aang shouted, trying to get through Zuko’s thick skull.

Zuko tensed and narrowed his eyes at the boy. It sounded believable and far-fetched at the same time. And like a threat. The Avatar could be controlling the Dai Li already. His status could give him a great deal of power.

“Zuko, I’m sorry, but I felt that you needed to know this. We. I don’t want you to be put in jail and who knows what else for trying to start over. I think its great, what you’re doing here.”

“You think serving tea is great? You think its so great that I’m stuck here because my sister thinks me better of dead? Or never born at all?” Zuko stood, striding across the small space to loom over the boy. “I’m only here because right now I need to disappear form her sight, but the second I’m able I’m going back out there and I will take her down.”

The Avatar sat, unmoved and unafraid of Zuko’s rage, though the Water Tribe boy had stood up, poised to defend Aang if need be. Zuko noticed the Waterbender had a globe of water between her hands. The Earthbender was the only other one who seemed unconcerned, her feet firmly planted on the earthen floor.

Zuko stayed where he was, trying to stare down the Avatar. But Aang did not look angry, or scared, only disappointed. Like he knew Zuko could do better, would be better, if he only tried. Like Zuko actually knew better, but didn’t want to admit to himself or anyone else. Zuko wanted to blast the expression off his face.

Aang stood on the table he had been using as a chair, unfolding his legs and holding his staff upright, looking every inch a wise old spirit in a young body. “If that’s the way you feel, Zuko, then that’s how it is.” He paused, frowning, as though he consulted with himself. “But train hard, Zuko. Train well. I think more depends on it than you know.” The boy hopped down from the table, and his friends filed past him him, leaving the little house without so much as a backwards glance.

The Avatar stopped and took one last look at Zuko, standing proud even now. “And good luck.” The boy smiled at him, like he knew something Zuko didn’t, which was entirely too likely. Then he shut the door, leaving the former prince alone.

~ ~ ~

Later, when Iroh returned he found his nephew in the basement practicing. Not the way he was used to, with fire and anger mixed together, thinking that was the only fuel he had, but with a determination that he had never seen in the boy before. A diligence for mastering each step before moving on to the next. An appreciation for the whole of the kata.

Iroh did not know if he should be proud of his nephew, or afraid for the day when he finally left to do what he had been born to do.


End file.
